7.Funding Gap? LCBP gets £30m

With the DTI’s Clear Skies and Major Photovoltaic Demonstration
programmes being wound up, the renewable energy community has expressed
concerns about funding in the future. The MPDP has seen 1000’s of PV
projects go ahead and solar PV prices have fallen by 30%, while the
Clear Skies programme has supported many community projects. But the
replacement Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) has only just
completed its consultation phase, so there were fear that there could
be a funding gap. Philip Wolfe of the Renewable Power Association complained
that “the commercial consequences of this stop-start approach for
private sector businesses are potentially disastrous. Investment decisions
are being put on hold and hard-won jobs in the sector are now under
threat.” Jeremy Leggett of Solar Century said “It makes business
planning virtually impossible. They’ve created a fledgling industry
and then decided on a whim to nip it in the bud”.

In a joint statement Greenpeace and the Renewable Power Association
maintained that there will be a gap in funding for community renewable
energy projects. “This is happening just at a time when government
is urging communities to ‘do their bit’ in the battle against climate
change. Given the Prime Minister’s repeated comments about climate change,
we find it incomprehensible that the government is sleep-walking towards
a protracted gap in support for technologies such as solar thermal,
biomass and solar PV.”

Stephen Tindale from Greenpeace piled on
the pressure: “Given the government persists in marginalizing these
technologies, the least they can do is maintain what little support
they do provide for these most vital businesses. Many innovative businesses
will simply not survive the funding gap. In the face of climate change,
that is scandalous. The gap between the rhetoric and reality of government
action on climate change gets wider by the day.”

However Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks, responding to Parliamentary
Questions on 31st Oct, said that ‘we are currently developing the
details of the new programme and considering how best to ensure a smooth
transition with minimal disruption to grant support’, adding that
the low carbon buildings programme was ‘due to be in place by April
2006’. And on Nov 3. he announced £30m for the Low Carbon Building
Programme over three years- with a strong emphasis on schools- see Box.
He said that he was also bringing forward £1.5 m to help the Clear Skies
& Photovoltaic programmes meet increased demand until the LCBP was
in place. So it pays to complain! But the level of support is quite
low- £10m p.a. for three years. The Renewable Power Association’s microrenewables
policy manager, Sebastian Berry, said the amount of funding was a ‘clear
step backwards’ adding that ‘we are extremely disappointed at
the small scale of funding available... The overall funding pot is not
at the same level as previous government commitments to ensure that
a range of renewable technologies are in a position to contribute to
future government targets.’

When first announced in 2001, the solar PV initiative was expected
to continue until 2012 and ‘establish the UK
as a credible player.... alongside Germany
and Japan’.
The reality has been very different. As the Guardian noted (19/10/05),
in 2004 the UK installed a
record 2.5MW of solar power, but Germany
installed over 300MW. ‘Although successful, the total value of the
Clear Skies & PV programmes has been £45m. By comparison, Germany
spent £300m to reach its 100,000 solar roofs target.’ The Guardian
added ‘a 2001 joint government-industry report recommended that £150m
would be needed to deliver up to 100,000 PV roofs’.

As noted in Renew 159, there are also concerns that the LCBP, which
the DTI consultation suggests should involve competitive bidding, will
be concentrated on a few large-scale projects at the expense of smaller
scaled community projects.

* Green Party Principal Speaker Keith Taylor commented: ‘Compared
with the billions sunk every year into nuclear industry £30m is a woefully
small sum to stimulate the renewable energy sector’.

Skills gap

The UK target of generating
10% of electricity from renewables by 2010 could be undermined by lack
of people with the necessary skills according to a report ‘Role of
Physics in Renewable Energy RD&D’ from Future
Energy Solutions for the Institute of Physics. The IOP’s
Peter Main commented “It is vital that we support UK
physics and attract more students to study physics and go on to pursue
a career in areas such as energy generation”.

The report claims that the UK
could be a world leader in the development of solar PV and wave or tidal
energy, but says that there are very few post-graduate opportunities
in the development of renewable energy technologies or fuel cells, since
it is difficult to obtain funding for interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary
research.

IOP’s chief executive Robert Kirby-Harris
commented “This report shows that the huge promise of renewables
will only be realised if there is sufficient investment in research
and development in this field and also in attracting more students into
essential subjects such as physics. A simple, clearer system of funding
linked to more post-graduate and research opportunities in renewable
energy research is urgently needed to kick-start this process.”
See www.iop.org/news/1004

Technical skills

However it not just University training that’s needed- but new skills
right across the range. Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP, has called
for action to provide the UK
workforce with the essential skills and training necessary for renewable
energy schemes. Jean, who sits on the Euro Parliament’s Employment
and Social Affairs Committee, said: ‘Strategies for improving the
environment rely heavily on training. It is vital that we meet CO2
reduction targets but we wont be successful if the next generation are
not trained in improving the environment. How will we meet targets
if we haven’t got any trained solar panel fitters, for example? Training
is all too often aimed at placing people in jobs and ignores the significant
potential that exists to empower people to improve the environment.
Training solely through a perspective of increasing income capacity,
is neither integrated nor capable of working towards a society that
lives by the principles of sustainable development.’

Technology Programme

The government is to provide £63m to companies to promote innovation
under the latest round of the £370m Technology Programme- which
now subsumes the DTI’s New and Renewable Energy Programme (see Renew
156). Funding is available for six technology priority areas, including
£13m for low-carbon energy.

The Government is also providing additional funding of £10m for technology
demonstrations under DTI’s Carbon Abatement Technologies Strategy.